traps; au. basically a continuation to teamwork (chapter 18)

Lightning's training in the Corps had given her some lifelong skills. One of those skills was the ability to be completely aware of her surrounding at any given point in time - it was invaluable out on the battlefield, where a moment's hesitation could be the difference between something dire or not.

This training was likely the reason she was aware that something was going on.

Then again, it probably wouldn't have been difficult for anyone fairly perceptive to figure it out, though given the people who lived in the NORA house on a regular basis, she kind of wondered about that. At times, they were oblivious. Other times…they were a little too perceptive.

And way too involved in her personal life, such as it was.

"So where'd you and Hope go off to last night, huh?" Maqui asked her, pretending to be interested in whatever gadget he was taking apart.

"None of your business."

"Ohhh! So it was a date!" Maqui grinned and waved his arms towards someone. "Hey Lebreau, it was totally a date!"

"You sure about that?" Lebreau shouted. Lightning rolled her eyes and groaned.

"It wasn't a date," she grumbled.

"So how come it's none of my business, huh?"

"Because it isn't."

"I don't know…you guys have been hanging out a lot lately. Alooooone," he added in a sing-song voice. Lightning would have punched him if it was worth the effort. "You have been ever since you came out of that haunted house back during Halloween."

"Such as it was." She blushed slightly despite herself. The whole haunted house fiasco had been an awful setup pretty much everyone in NORA had been in on - they'd forced Hope and herself into a "haunted" house that had ended up with the two of them leaving it holding hands…as friends, of course.

Still, Maqui was right about one thing - she and Hope had been spending a lot of time together since then. As friends. She was quite content to keep it that way…but sometimes she had to wonder.

"Hope's coming back from work soon, right?" Maqui's question interrupted her thoughts.

"Yeah, I guess." In exactly thirteen minutes, if previous experience was accounted for, but who was counting?

"You should stand over there and wait for him." He pointed near the doorway. "Betcha it'll cheer him up to see you first thing!"

Lightning gave him a look that suggested he was completely off his rocker. "No thanks. I'll wait right here." At the slight smirk on his face, she added hastily, "if I even decide to wait at all. I do have better things to do than sit around."

"Okay, Lightning. Whatever you say." He didn't seem to perturbed. Lightning rolled her eyes and eventually did get up, completely missing the enormous huff from Maqui, who pulled out his cell phone and sent a message to Yuj.

Didn't work. Time for Plan B!

—

"Hey, Hope. Can you help me for a sec?"

Hope glanced up from the book he'd been engrossed in, noticing Yuj standing on a stepladder, a string of lights dangling from his hands. Apparently he was attempting to make the doorway festive.

"Oh, yeah, sure." Hope got to his feet, setting the book he'd been reading aside. He easily reached up and helped put the lights in their place. "I guess you're going all out for the holidays, huh?"

"Yep, that's the plan." Yuj stuck a thumbtack in between some wires to keep the lights in place, his eyes darting around like he was looking for Lebreau to catch him doing so. "I figured that we have a lot to celebrate. We're all here, so why not?"

"Sounds a good a reason as any." He smiled a bit. "…I guess everyone in NORA likes the holidays, huh?"

"All of them, yeah." There was a pause. Yuj glanced at Hope and chuckled. "What, are you still getting on my case about the Halloween thing? I told you, that was all Snow's idea."

"…Yeah, sure." Hope shook his head. Though he had no doubt that Snow had a little part to play in that fiasco, he did doubt that the other man had been perceptive enough to notice these…feelings Hope had been having towards Lightning.

Honestly, though, he didn't really know what to make of them himself lately. They hung out a lot - often alone - and Lightning always seemed to have a good time with him. There was nothing horribly awkward about their interactions, though the amount of time he spent wishing that she'd grab his hand again was verging on pathetic. It just seemed like they were…waiting for something.

"Can you wait here for a sec?"

"Huh?" Hope blinked a couple of times, mentally shaking himself out of his thoughts.

"Mind waiting here for a sec?" Yuj gestured in the general area of the doorway they were standing near. "I'm gonna go find some more lights and stuff."

"Oh, yeah. Sure."

"Great!" Yuj practically hopped off the stepladder. There was a bounce in his gait that had Hope quirking an eyebrow in confusion - in all the time he'd known him, Hope had never seen Yuj as anything but calm and collected.

Huh. Weird. Maybe he just really like decorating.

After about a minute of waiting, Hope heard someone approaching the doorway and assumed it was Yuj, so he remained where he was - at least until his phone went off. It was across the room, lying on the couch where he'd been sitting earlier. Hope immediately walked off to get it, scrolling through the screen and smiling faintly at a text from Vanille.

"Oh, hi, Hope."

He looked up quickly at the voice, automatically breaking into a little smile. "Hey, Light." She was walking through the doorway, looking a little confused. "What's up?"

"…I don't know." She stepped out of the doorway. "Lebreau just told me to go over here."

"Maybe she wants you to help with the decorations." Hope gestured to the lights that'd already been put up. "Yuj is somewhere getting more."

Lightning shook her head a little. "I don't think that was it." But her confusion melted away with a slight smile, the sort that made Hope's stomach flutter involuntarily. "But I guess I can help out."

Meanwhile, Yuj listened to the conversation from the other side of the doorway, sighing to himself and sending a text off to Snow.

Time for Plan C.

—

"Why are you following me?"

Snow held up his hands in an 'I surrender' gesture. "I'm not! I'm just, uh…going the same way as you, Sis."

"I'm not your sister," Lightning grumbled, mostly out of habit. Honestly, it was hard to be annoyed - Christmas was rapidly approaching. The NORA house was decorated to the nines, and for the past couple of weeks, the gifts under the giant family tree had been piling up. Everyone was in an extremely festive mood. It was even rubbing off on her.

Too bad it couldn't dull those senses that kept telling her that something was going on. Then again, maybe it was obvious to her, because usually Snow walked away from her - not followed her. It'd been like this for days now.

"Sooo Light…where's Hope?"

"How should I know?" She shrugged. This had been occurring with rapid frequency as well - everyone always seemed to figure that she had some kind of eye on Hope's whereabouts, as if they were expected be to joined at the hip. Or at the hands.

Before Snow could reply, she heard some voices coming from the other room, gradually getting louder as they approached the doorway. Gadot and Hope. She shrugged again and gestured her head in that vague direction. "There's your answer."

"Uh huh." Snow suddenly seemed extremely preoccupied and edged weirdly close. Lightning tried to shuffle away, but he hardly noticed. Annoyance surged within her, barely noticing Hope and Gadot approaching the doorway.

"Snow, what the hell are you - "

"Aaaand now!"

In a move she honestly didn't see coming - strange, given all of those instincts - Snow pushed Lightning in the direction of the doorway. She stumbled with a noise of surprise, barely seeing Gadot do the same to Hope.

It was miraculous that they didn't crash into each other, but she was still completely confused and disarrayed when she got her senses back. As it was, she'd managed to stumble, quite literally, right into Hope's arms - he was holding onto her shoulders, likely for balance since her own hands were pressed up against his chest for the same reason.

For a moment, she simply stared up at him in confusion, her heart racing from the surprise. Just the surprise, she told herself, because Hope looked just as shocked as she felt. His eyes were wide and she could feel his heart racing underneath her hands…

"Uh, guys?" Gadot sounded like he was about to laugh. "You might wanna look up."

Practically in unison, Hope and Lightning's eyes slid upwards, all while still in their awkward embrace. Her heartbeat sped up to double time when she realized what was taped on the doorframe above their heads.

Mistletoe.

How long have they been planning this…?

Lightning started to attempt to pull away. She would not be caught taking part in some silly tradition…at least, until she met Hope's eyes again. They were wondering. Hopeful. And she recalled what she'd said after that fiasco during Halloween.

If they'd somehow gotten caught under the mistletoe, he would find out if she was okay with it or not.

Somehow, though, she hadn't expected actually have to find an answer to that question. As the seconds ticked on, she vaguely grew aware that Gadot and Snow had left the room - or at least went and hid somewhere. It didn't really matter, because all she could see was Hope.

"Um…" Hope's cheeks had turned an interesting shade of red. His hands lightly slid down her arms like he was going to pull away, but when Lightning didn't move her own hands, he hesitantly rested them on her waist instead. She let out a nearly inaudible breath at the touch, her fingers curling into his shirt a bit. "Well, you know. It's tradition and all…"

She hummed a little, just a noise to fill the silence. She realized that one mistletoe kiss was not going to instantly change everything. But at the same time…who was it that she'd been spending so much time with? Who was it that always managed to make her smile, who made the world fade away when she was with him like he was doing now?

Maybe it wouldn't be an instantaneous change, but the holidays usually meant the start of something new as well.

A little smile appeared on her face. Hope blinked a couple of times like he was surprised to see it, letting out a content sigh of his own when one of her hands slid up to cup the back of his neck.

"Yes, you're right. It is tradition."

That seemed to be the answer they needed. They were both smiling when they met halfway, their lips finally meeting under the mistletoe…as their friends and family had been trying to get them to do for weeks now. She was so engrossed in her kiss with Hope that she didn't even hear the quiet cheering from everyone in the NORA house.

…Well, maybe she did, a little bit. She knew they were glad one of their elaborate little traps had worked, so she'd let them have their fun. She could kick all their asses tomorrow.

Or maybe, she vaguely thought as her fingers slid into Hope's hair, she would actually thank them.